Summary:
The Appalachian State U Academy Middle Fork district contains exactly one school: Appalachian Academy at Middle Fork, an elementary program serving grades K–5 in Walkertown, North Carolina. Enrollment is 295 students, and the school operates in a high-poverty environment, with 71.86% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. Chronic absenteeism sits at 22.4%, meaning roughly one in five students misses enough school to be considered chronically absent, though this is slightly better than the state average of 24.2%.
The single school on this list also stands out for dramatic, broad-based improvement. From 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, proficiency rose in every tested subject. Gains were especially striking in 5th grade science (+21.7 percentage points to 50.0%), 5th grade math (+20.8 points to 46.9%), and 3rd grade reading (+20.2 points to 50.0%). As a result, the school's state ranking jumped from 1,422 out of 1,490 schools (5th percentile) in 2024–2025 to 1,230 out of 1,492 schools (18th percentile) in 2025–2026. The district as a whole continues to rank low in North Carolina, at 223 out of 246 districts.
Despite this progress, Appalachian Academy at Middle Fork remains below the North Carolina state average in every grade and subject tested in 2025–2026. The school comes closest in 3rd grade reading, where 50.0% proficiency trails the state's 55.6% by only 5.6 percentage points. The largest gap is in 4th grade math, where 36.0% of students are proficient compared to 61.4% statewide—a deficit of 25.4 points. Reading proficiency also declines as grade levels rise, from 50.0% in 3rd grade to 42.0% in 4th and 40.6% in 5th, signaling a concern in upper-elementary literacy. The strong upward trend—especially in science, 5th grade math, and 3rd grade reading—is encouraging, but the school still faces significant work ahead to close the gaps with state averages.
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